Popular Mechanics Gets Hands on With the Nintendo Wii U

We get an early test of the upcoming multi-screen gaming platform from Nintendo.

At CES, we got to test drive the next-generation Nintendo console, the Wii U. We were cautioned by Nintendo's public relations crew that the games we played were in no way indicative of what will eventually come out at launch, and the hardware, which seemed pretty finished to me, could still go through significant changes.

That hardware consists of two new elements, an updated console that—finally—supports HD resolutions, and a controller (which is at this point simply referred to as "the new controller") that has the potential to completely change how we play videogames. The new controller is a huge device with a 6.2-inch full-color screen in the middle and standard assortment of buttons, triggers, and D-pads for the fingers of each hand on the sides. The controller also has gyroscopes and accelerometers, an IR sensor, microphone, speaker and camera.

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The console is backwards-compatible with the old-fashioned motion-control Wiimotes, which can work together with the new controller in surprising ways. We tried a game (sorry, demonstration software) called Chase Mii, in which a player with the new controller runs off into a labyrinth with a head start, then up to four players with Wiimotes try to hunt him down. The twist is that the player with the new controller has a completely different view available to him compared to the one offered to the Wiimote players. He can see the entire maze top down, and can also see the positions of the other players, which gives the chased an advantage over the chasers.

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We also tried a driving simulator that used the large TV screen for a front view, while the new controller could be moved around in free space to get 360 view of the of the world passing by. Some demos weren't really playable, but were shown to get a few concepts across. For instance, we were shown a repeating scene from a hypothetical Legend of Zelda game in which Link battled an enormous spider in a gorgeous HD castle environment. The graphics looked beautiful, and the system give the user the option to offload much of the heads-up display info to the new controller, thus creating a completely chrome-free TV screen.

The new controller also allows for any game to be offloaded from the TV to the controller, so that the action can continue when dad comes in to watch the game. In addition, the controllers can also theoretically be used collaboratively, as in a golf game where the screen controller is put on the ground to show the ball in its current terrain (sand, fairway, green, etc.) while a Wiimote is used for the club.

The concept of a secondary screen experience is pretty revolutionary, but it got me thinking just how easy it would be for a company like Microsoft to achieve much of the same functionality with a phone and the existing Xbox. Nevertheless, Nintendo's has this type of experience nailed right now. Well, almost right now: Nintendo was fuzzy with the release details, indicating it would come out sometime between June and December, and completely silent as to the price. And that will ultimately decide if this is a revolutionary new idea in gaming, or just an overpriced gimmick.